A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium

David Potter

The Victor's Crown

A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium

David Potter

Description

The Victor's Crown brings to vivid life the signal role of sport in the classical world. Ranging over a dozen centuries--from Archaic Greece through to the late Roman and early Byzantine empires--David Potter's lively narrative shows how sport, to the ancients, was not just a dim reflection of religion and politics but a potent social force in its own right. The passion for sport among the participants and fans of antiquity has been matched in history only by our own time.

Potter first charts the origins of competitive athletics in Greece during the eighth century BC and the emergence of the Olympics as a preeminent cultural event. He focuses especially on the experiences of spectators and athletes, especially in violent sports such as boxing and
wrestling, and describes the physiology of conditioning, training techniques, and sport's role in education. Throughout, we meet the great athletes of the past and learn what made them great. The rise of the Roman Empire transformed the sporting world by popularizing new entertainments, particularly gladiatorial combat, a specialized form of chariot racing, and beast hunts. Here, too, Potter examines sport from the perspectives of both athlete and spectator, as he vividly describes competitions held in such famous arenas as the Roman Coliseum and the Circus Maximus. The Roman government promoted and organized sport as a central feature of the Empire, making it a sort of common cultural currency to the diverse inhabitants of its vast territory.

While linking ancient sport to
events such as religious ceremonies and aristocratic displays, Potter emphasizes above all that it was the thrill of competition--to those who competed and those who watched--that ensured sport's central place in the Greco-Roman world.

"Vivid and authoritative. Potter skillfully reveals how the gymnasium lay at the heart of Greek life and culture, but his passion is clearly for the Olympics. When Potter moves on to Roman sport, things get livelier still. He meticulously traces the origins, careers and lifestyles of athletes, gladiators and charioteers alike, and demolished some cherished myths along the way. Most gladiatorial combats apparently ended in surrender, not death, although a crowd might well call out "ingula!" (kill!), running their thousands of thumbs under their
throats in the original 'thumbs up' gesture. Fascinating and impressive."--James McConnachie, Sunday Times

The Victor's Crown

A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium

David Potter

Table of Contents

Maps viiiPreface xiThen and Now xiii

PART 1: ASHES, LINEN AND THE ORIGINS OF SPORT1: Introduction2: Homer and the Bronze Age3: Homer and Sport

PART 2: OLYMPIA4: From Myth to History5: Olympia in 480 BC6: The Olympic Games of 476 BC7: The Festival Approaches8: WinningThe Equestrian EventsThe Pentathlon and the Foot RacesNudityPain and Suffering9: Remembering VictoryThe Athlete as Hero10: The Emergence of the Panhellenic Cycle 98

PART 3: THE WORLD OF THE GYMNASIUM11: Sport and Civic Virtue12: Beroia13: Getting in Shape and Turning Pro

PART 4: ROMAN GAMES14: Greece Meets Rome15: Kings and Games16: Rome and Italy17: Actors
and Gladiators18: Caesar, Antony, Augustus and the Games

PART 5: IMPERIAL GAMES19: Watching20: The Fan's Experience21: Expectations22: Crowd Noise23: Dreaming of Sport24: Images of Sport 25: Women's Sports26: ParticipatingLife as a GladiatorTraining and RankingDyingChoosing to be a Gladiator27: Charioteers28: AthletesAthletic GuildsCheating29: Local GamesAdministrationAthleticsEpilogue: The Long End of an EraBibliography

The Victor's Crown

A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium

David Potter

Author Information

David Potter is Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Greek and Latin in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Ancient Rome: A New History and Emperors of Rome as well as two forthcoming OUP titles, Constantine the Emperor and Theodora.

"Vivid and authoritative....Potter skillfully reveals how the gymnasium lay at the heart of Greek life and culture, but his passion is clearly for the Olympics.... When Potter moves on to Roman sport, things get livelier still....He meticulously traces the origins, careers, and lifestyles of athletes, gladiators and charioteers alike, and demolished some cherished myths along the way. Fascinating and impressive." --James McConnachie, Sunday Times

The Victor's Crown

A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium

David Potter

From Our Blog

By David Potter
The streets are packed. People are singing and shouting. They are wearing team colors; they are drinking, eating, fighting and betting. These fans are not in Green Bay, East Lansing, Philadelphia or Madison. They are in Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire in 500 AD.

What do we share with the Ancient World? Thankfully, not too much. But we do share a love of sports and strangely enough we still approach sports in the same way. We complain about commercialization, but sponsors and marketing have existed since games began (although we've moved on from statues to cereal). And for the
greatest games, the Olympics, we seek the best: the peak of human physical achievement and unique moments in time as records shatter. As the world awaits the London 2012 Summer Olympics, we spoke with David Potter, author of The Victor's Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium, about how sports unites us with our past.

By David Potter
Public funding for sports events was a fact of life for the Greeks and Romans. So was private funding, and both the Greeks and the Romans knew what the benefits and what the pitfalls associated with either might be. Can we be certain that the organizers of the London Olympics are quite so clear about this? The widely advertised donation (amounting to thirty-one million dollars) by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) of testing facilities for 6,250 blood samples taken from athletes could raise that question.

By David Potter
In a year when Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals, and Usain Bolt became the first man to win the 200 meters twice, it's worth asking: What does 'great' mean in sports? We might gain perspective by considering how the Ancient Greeks determined greatness in athletes. Then and now, true greatness is as defined not by a single moment, but by the ability to build a record of extraordinary achievement.

By David Potter
This past weekend Olympic superstar swimmer Janet Evans showed up in New York in the company of Olympic sponsor BMW. The London Olympics are unthinkable without their corporate sponsors, both for the site itself and for the teams that are going to compete. But what would a person connected with the ancient version of the Games think?